Mae Questel "She's Betty Boop."
Betty Boop, she's the handiwork of 100 artists working full time for five weeks. For the synchronization takes that long. It is started when the animation is completed. An actual orchestra is used for the synchronization, music, sounds, singing, etc. It is done with the aid of a metronome. It was eighteen months ago that Betty Boop emerged from the inkwell of Max Fleischer, then she was just one of the characters, but she "Booped" her way to stardom. Although the cartoon appears for only a short time on screen, it necessitates tedious work. Fleischer took a year to finish his first six-minute subject. It consisted of 12,000 separate drawings. Betty Boop enjoyed mild popularity until Mae Questel got the job, then she became a favorite with movie fans. Miss Questel almost looks like Betty Boop, feet 1 inch in height, has black bobbed hair and sparkling eyes, and talks like Helen Kane. In fact she began her theatrical career in an amateur impersonation contest in a Bronx theatre and won a prize for mimicking the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" gal. Up to that time she had been teaching elocution privately. So the voice you hear in that animated cartoon is that of an elocution teacher. But after she won that amateur contest Mae deserted the classroom for the stage. She started out on vaudeville doing a single and later appeared with Waite Hoyt and Fred Coots when she played at the Palace. She also played in Nancy Caroll's flicker "Wayward." Played the role of the cute, fresh chorus girl. It was when Max Fleischer was looking for a new Betty Boop he had tried a number but they all failed that she was sent to him. She was found to be perfect for the part. She was Betty Boop. Fleischer will tell you she isn't Betty Boop, but that Betty Boop is Mae Questel. That's how good he believes she is. In her job she must sing in German and French. She speaks French, German, Polish and Spanish. She got a medal at school for Spanish. She can and does do impersonations of Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Fanny Brice, Lyda Roberti, Rudy Vallée and others. There's no telling when, as Betty Boop she may be called in to do any of those characters. She doesn't care that the audience only hears her but doesn't see her. She doesn't insist on being that type of star. Now, however, all her friends and her boyfriend call her Betty Boop. She's only 19, went to Morris High School, and is Russian-Polish. She buys her clothes wholesale and is not individualistic in her style. Blue is her favorite color, for it brings out the color of her eyes. She has a scar on her right cheek, hardly perceptible. She received it when she fell down a flight of stairs when she was a kid. She wears a flannel nightgowns and sleeps along. On cold wintry nights she wears woolen socks in bed. Her voice is the remarkable thing about her, which is why she's so good in a job where she's only a voice. The ability to change her voice allowed her to take eleven parts in one reel. When she goes to the movies she likes to see those animated cartoons. Mae Questel's favorite is not Betty Boop. Just tell her where a Mickey Mouse cartoon is playing. Category:News Category:Newspapers Category:1933 Category:Mae Questel